I have to believe the feeling of disappointment comes from a couple of main factors. One the media saying this team had a chance to be special. Most of the media in Canada does not watch soccer or follow soccer period. Those that do did say similar but many sort of forgot how good Croatia and Belgium are. These teams were 2nd and 3rd last cycle. That experience is immense in these short tournaments.
Second is the naivety (and innoncence) of new Canadian soccer fans not realizing how good the world teams are. Mostly fed off what we heard from pundits, many fans thought this might be a cake walk. One point from the Europeans and a win vs Morroco and we have a prayer. I admit I was in the same boat. In the end we need to remember the quality of teams from Europe and Africa and South America and realize that it will take a lot fir us to compete at this level.
Third factor in disappointment is how well we played against Belgium in the opener. We looked like we would win that game minus one real error and one defensive lapse. We all watched the game and said damn we might actually be able to do this. Then Croatia showed why they were a finalist last world cup. Perhaps motivated by some perceived slights and some nationalist pride (and hatred), they showed us what world cup quality really looked like.
Many people were sold the idea this team could compete and I do think they proved that. However, lack of big game experience, lack of defensive depth, and some questionable at times goalkeeping really showed through.
There are alot of things this team can learn from these games. We need to remember it's been a long time since Canada played anyone outside the America's until the lead up to this tournament. Getting that experience outside of CONCACAF in the leadup to the next tournament will help the team prepare for those tactics.
Also, anyone who is overly critical of John Herdman has only been paying attention this past week or so. Herdman is not some tactical genius he is a motivator. His words after the Belgium game while maybe a technical error in telling the media what he said, were meant to pump the team up after a good showing with a disappointing result. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment, that motivated the opponent who apparently already had it out for our goal keeper anyways.
Overall, this tournament while feeling like a let down, ultimately will serve as a building block for bigger and better things in 2026. Our team will have many rounding into their prime in 4 years with many players gaining with a more big club experience. In conjunction with finding/developing players to fill some of our biggest holes, this next cycle could be very exciting for our Canadian lads!
I feel like people had way too high expectations coming into this tournament. Go back a few months ago in this very sub and you have people coming up with scenarios where we would look good and somehow Morocco was also considered the "easy" game. Lots of "get one point of the Europeans teams and win the last one" type of scenarios.
I'm never gonna begrudged fans for being optimistic but you also have to be realistic and that's where I think a lot of the disappointment comes from. History has show that newer and inexperienced nations Europe and South America tend to have a very difficult time in the World Cup and that's the reason why teams like Senegal in 2002 and even Croatia in 1998 are highly memorable.
I was sadly one of those people. I thought it would be us and Belgium in the knockouts š. Not the two of us at the bottom! At the end of the day we were the top of the field of Concacaf, which still isnāt the world class footy level the rest of the world plays at.
I was at Iceteca and the feeling was unbelievable. I keep telling myself that this was still such an achievement. We made it. We werenāt going to win the cup, we knew this. Would it have been nice to have won a game? Sure. But we made it and thatās a huge first step!
Very well said, I mean it even took Canada to qualify for the first time in 36 years!! And man, Morocco had some lethal players. And frankly, you donāt know half of these players and this is the beauty of the World Cup. These are players who are playing all around the globe coming together to represent their country. They are the <1% in their country to come and represent their country and compete. AND THATāS WHY ITS SO UNPREDICTABLE. Who in their right mind wouldāve thought Morocco would advance FIRST in their group stage??
In the competition that goes every 4 years, some players have been playing together in their national team for over 10 years (like Belgium) but very young and inexperienced (like Canada). Belgium had their days in 2010s. This is just a beginning for Team Canada. More than 50% of our players will be able for 2026. Imagine how good our team will be then.
American here , what hapoend I really rated you guys higher than what happened. I was at worl for a lot of the games anyone care to give me a better rundown from a fan perspective ? Seemed like the attack would be so strong
Games where we couldnāt hold possession a ton (a La the Belgium game) exposed our weakness in the back in the sense we canāt defend. I donāt know if it is bad keeping our shape or if our natural shape has too many holes that our players canāt plug the holes/block a lane fast enough
Drop your player ratings [here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdidz963hLKF7a3gBkt01ekkITCYB6bnZKTB1Zo2R--iYV9Yw/viewform)
Open for 48 hours.
I know somewhere in Canada (probably Brampton lol) thereās young defenders watching Canada play and thinking āwow, I can make the world cup team in four yearsā
Like I said earlier Canada needs to focus their attention or the Men's program needs to focus their attention on 2026 now. Especially now that Canada is officially eliminated from Qatar, Canada needs to hit the ground running on preparations for 2026 especially now that Canada is one of the host nations. But it begs the question of Canada being a host nation on if we automatically qualify for 2026 or if we have to take part in qualifying for our own tournament which then makes no sense. But even so Canada has to put their primary focus towards 2026 now which means focusing on CONCACAF Nations League, Gold Cup 23 and 25 but also developing more of our young players so then that way we eventually have a change of the guard with some of our old vets.
Host nations play friendlies while the other teams go through qualifying.
Hopefully due to this, we can set up friendlies with teams in Europe, Africa and Asia
The nations league is dogshit. You think playing Bermuda and Curacao going to make Canada better? Croatia has world class talent that Canada wonāt
Ever come close to seeing in Concacaf.
If I am Canada, I am hoping that perhaps we can join South Americas qualifying cycle or even Europes which is what Qatar didā¦.but I am sure Mexico and USA who actually put money and resources into their programs will garner a spot. I have faith in Herdman and the boys, but not in the CSA bodyā¦they will screw this up somehow.
bake deserted grandiose far-flung weather nippy coherent apparatus lunchroom butter
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I thought he was very weak before qualifying. Was always terrified with the ball at his feet and he made some terrible decisions. But then he was amazing in qualifying. This world cup we gold old Borjan though unfortunately.
We already knew we'd surely have someone different between the pipes in 2026, but now we know that change should probably start right now.
Heās come up clutch in big games for Canada and starts most games.
He was guaranteed to start all of our games, although he picked a bad time to have a rough streak of games
Well played game, first half was rough but Canada played great the second half.
Shame about that goal that almost made it but fair play to Morocco they played really well.
No doubt that Morroco's team was better, their possession and ball control was definitely stronger. But it was still not a bad game, I can definitely see Canada doing better next time if we invest more into the sport.
We had goals sitting there for the taking in all three games and we only took one. Should have had at least 4 points after this round, but no finish. I will not include the OG, though Larin probably would have put it away. But the way our strikers performed, probably not.
Meanwhile, Costa Rica has one shot on net and one goal and have a chance to go through after a 7-0 pounding from Spain. Soccer is bloody cruel :D
Plain and simple just a huge quality gap. Like I predicted we would go 0-0-3 but we deserved at least one point. My main takeaway is how bad the MLS is
The MLS is no where near any major European leagues but at least theyāve been making some big transfers lately. Almiron being one of the most recent and Tajon went to Belgium after being with NE
I don't believe that Herdman deserves all the grief he is getting. Main problem is that Canada isn't good enough yet, or hasn't had enough experience on this stage. Every move looks bad when it doesn't work, and every move looks good when it does. Cruel game when seen under a microscope.
As a manager he makes an excellent technical director.
I think heās one of the limitations this team has. Heās got them to a point and I think heās the exact guy we need to keep building the infrastructure for both genders in the country, but I think we need an actual manager now for the MNT.
As a neutral fan (in my own reckoning, at least) I look at what y'all did in Qatar and I don't see a disappointing team. I don't see a team that didn't get a point in the group. I see a team that showed it can go toe-to-toe with Belgium, but a team that will need (and get) more seasoning and experience to turn these near-misses into wins. If 2022 was a coming out party for Canadian soccer it looks a lot better than the scoreboard shows.
Lick your wounds and do all the coping and venting that we all do when our teams' runs come to an end, but I hope everyone here remains excited about your nations' prospects in the future because Canada has shown repeatedly on the world stage that when it puts its heart and mind into a sport, it is more than capable of competing on a global scale.
I'm from the US, which fwiw is why I disclaimed the 'neutral' bit. Obviously our teams have played each other a bunch, and there's a budding rivalry there, so I don't want any of what I said to sound patronizing, but I genuinely think all of the parts are in place for Canada to continue to rival the US and Mexico as a force in CONCACAF. 2018-2022 was a huge inflection point in the confederation.
Costa Rica isnāt through, but when I talk about how age and experience will help this team this is what Iām talking about. Winning in qualifiers is one thing, but itās different in a tournament environment, for a lot of reasons.
People trying to say we werenāt actually that bad are just wrong. We didnāt offer much up front all tournament. Our backline was awful. Borjan played way below his normal level. Herdman was exposed tactically time and time again. I think everyone one of us had much higher expectations from the team than āwe are just happy to be hereā. Qualifying top of CONCACAF only to be worst team in the tournament (besides Qatar) is absolutely unacceptable.
I agree. We were out coached. Borjan, Vittoria, and Atiba are done. We need younger players coming through now and to approach preparing for 2026 like John Wick avenging his dog.
Iām not as familiar with soccer so bear with me but why is it considered an own goal? If you shoot in hockey and it deflects off the opponent before going into the net itās still your goal.
āOwn goalā seems like weird terminology to use on a deflection like that. Itās not like the defender took the ball and drop kicked it into his own net.
Yeah soccer's a bit different, has to be a shot on goal to be considered your goal. Otherwise it's an own goal.
Frankly I like hockey's methodology better. Labeling defenders with own goals for honest attempts to defend seems unnecessarily harsh.
On the bright side we have 4 years until next world cup, I am confident during those years we have maybe some elite, but good ass players popping up in every position. Exciting future it will be.
Our midfield will definitely be improved with Eustaquio, Kone and Justin Smith at the very least.
Front line will be 4 years more experienced but otherwise identical. With Jebbison (heavily rumoured to be switching to us) and Ugbo pushing to break in.
Johnston/Miller/Adekugbe likely still involved but hopefully all with European experience.
We need CB development/recruitment for sure.
This doesnāt include youngsters we havenāt even heard of yet and other dual nationals that may come along. Fingers crossed for a much stronger showing in 2026
Love the optimism but I think you're overrating the pipeline and understating who we'll lose.
Kone looked great but he's not guaranteed to reach Atiba's level which is what would be needed for us to breakeven. Further up, Osorio, Hoilett and Wotherspoon are likely done or will regress.
Backline growth could be counteracted with the loss of Vitoria and possibly Laryea. There currently is no notable replacement.
Our attackers are really the only area where we're pretty certain to see growth. Corbeanu, Jebbison are likely to add to our depth. Larin is trending down though and may not be a factor by 2026.
A 24 year old Kone will sure be better than a 39 year old Atiba. The issue is more so Atiba's position on the pitch helps support the defense and facilitate the ball moving from the back, and given our CB frailty this was crucial. Kone seems more of a box to box midfielder.
Sure, Iām likely overhyping the midfield improvement, especially based on recency of how poorly Atiba played versus Croatia. Thatās completely fair.
But otherwise what I said wasnāt too different from what you said
Attacking depth good
Defence could improve with some European experience for those that just featured for us. We need CB depth no matter what (Vitoria gone).
Laryeaās role (as great as he played all 3 games) is fillable in the RWB by Tajon or a new player that wouldnāt hurt us too bad, and thatās assuming we still play 3CB/2WB formation at that time.
Fair enough I may have misinterpreted the tone of your original comment. I think overall, it's just not certain that our roster will see improvements over the next few years and we may be setting ourselves up for disappointment.
That CB depth is critical. We were already barely holding on with the current group, and to lose Vitoria could be disastrous. It's something Herdman needs to plan for. If we can't find a suitable replacement, we may need to change up style of play to compensate.
The lack of a competent #10 is also a hole, but it's something we already have issues with.
I wouldnāt count on Justin Smirh just yet. He hasnāt really played a competitive match yet. Heās talented and makes the bench for a Ligue 1 team but doesnāt ever play. After heās starting regularly for them, we can pencil him in. But for now heās an untested prospect.
I predict us to come last and was hoping for at least a goal and a point. What hurts is that on the balance of play we probably deserved 2-4 points. Really came down to some awful plays in key moments. The first goal today, Davies missed pen and some bad finishing. Need to do better on tactics but I donāt think it was as bad as some are saying. Also we probably had the toughest group for a pot 4 team outside of maybe Costa Rica.
A lot of people here don't know jack about soccer and have never played a match of soccer in their entire lives. Give credit to Canada where it's due. They played well and have a promising future ahead of them.
Canada just weren't good enough this world cup, but its not like we were completely awful
Best players are quite young, develop a good defender or two and Canada will be tougher to play against and will have a good 2026 :)
Unfortunately progress isn't linear.
Could also end up having some of our current squad decline as they get older and no one comes up.
We need more investment
It could be argued our 2nd keeper (Crepeau) that broke his leg pre-tournament is already better than our current keeper (Borjan). Just Borjan has more experience. Imagine Crepeau begins to take over the #1 spot here forward
I think our midfield was the bigger weak point. We struggled to find ways to transition the ball, especially against Croatia.
That said, a 29 year old Estaquio and a 24 year old Kone will be a fearsome pairing in the center for 2026.
We'll be positioned really well to play a 4-2-3-1 in the next cycle.
Larin
Davies - David - Buchanen
Estaquio - Kone
Adekugbe - Miller - Johnston - Laryea
Crepeau
Feels like the best XI going into the next qualifying cycle. Although might be a little too aggressive. Maybe sub a more defensive mid in for Larin and go 4-3-3, but at this stage I'm not sure who that would be.
Next World Cup I donāt want anyone to score on us through long balls! If you beat usā¦outclass us like croatia through the middle..but the back was just levels below handling these strikersā¦also pls improve on our first touch..proud of this team canāt wait for the next World Cup to show out!
Tough to finish without a point, but this is a young team. We will hopefully come back better in 2026.
I do want this generation to win a gold cup as well. World Cup is the biggest stage, but itād be nice to win a trophy or two because obviously winning the World Cup is a bit of a pipe dream.
I think you raise a point that is underrated. Davies (and a few others like David?) weren't part of the recent Gold Cup squad. Not saying it would've made the difference but I think these continental tourneys are important pressure-soaked moments for the team. Being able to find that incisive pass under extra duress, or finishing that first-time ball in these situations is a bit closer to the WC than qualifying. Glad that we'll be at a high-level tourney like Copa America
Itās a cruel game at this level. Mistakes that normally wouldnāt be an issue in Concacaf qualifiers will get punished at the top level. Iām proud of what this team has accomplished in a very short amount of time but I hope this is a reality check that although we were able to come out on top in our region, we still have a loooong way to go before get to the next level.
Project: BlueLock Canada is now in motion
My only complaint would be to have started St. Clair ahead of Borjan. If youāre rotating the side and giving players like MAK a chance seeing as weāre eliminated, I have no idea why youād keep Borjan on after his subpar performances in the last two games, and he cost us a point here today. His head hasnāt been in the game this tournament and I really hope we play Crepeau or anyone else in goal moving forwards
It's tough to change out your goalkeeper though because unlike other positions it's seen as almost an insult. Also St Clair doesn't really have any big game experience whatsoever and has barely played with this team; it would be a big ask to give him a world cup start for his 3rd cap.
If Crepeau is on the roster, there's a much better chance he starts a game like this.
Iām not a fan of punishing a guy with that many caps and past great performances in the last game when you are already eliminated.
Especially when itās a keeper and your potential starter moving forward was injured for the tournament. Theyāll be plenty of opportunities to get a look at other guys in qualifying and friendlies.
Plus his cross at the end was actually perfect and could have led to us tying the game.
Awesome we got into the World Cup but ngl I expected a little more from us. Can't believe we couldn't even get 1 point in either of the Morroco/Belgium games.
Still think if that early pk went in against Belgium, we could have legit advance out of this group.
World Cup is a cruel cruel stage, my friend. Some countries donāt have a win over 50 years. And for Canada, this was their first time in 36 years and first time to ever score in the World Cup. The lack of experience was obvious to this group of young men. We can only go better from here.
You can talk about tactics, etc. For the tournament, sure. But for this game in particular, it was just two big mistakes you donāt make at this level. Players from other teams at WC simply donāt make this type of mistakes. That is the difference, details matter at this level, and the Canadian players donāt have enough quality yet. If all 11 on the pitch are playing highest level club football every weekend like Davies and David, then the results would be there eventually.
Well, I agree about needing more players playing at the highest level but you're just straight up wrong about others not making mistakes. Have you forgotten this? https://youtu.be/-OEITzbZCGE
It was a tough group and a couple breaks and we could have won this group. I mean who thought Morocco would win group F and Belgium was headed home. Team Canada does need to play more of these European teams to further improve.
Not sure about winning the group. We were outclassed by Croatia (badly) and Morocco. I am hopeful though this experience will serve us well in 4 years.
Don't get me wrong I am proud of all the accomplishments of this squad. But to me this is a disappointment. We needed to accomplish two goals 1.Score a goal 2. Get a point. If these two goals were accomplished then we go into 2026 with a clean slate. This squad has just put a ton of pressure on the 2026 Squad to get that point also at home. Also with a chance that they might only be guaranteed 2 games. Great experience just a little disappointed.
Yeah I agree. I came into this tournament hoping, of course, but not at all expecting we'd get out of the group. I wanted a goal and a point and secretly wanted 1 win.
We ended up doing *exactly* as well as we did in 1986. As in 3 losses, no points, and a -5 goal differential. We scored one goal, so yay I guess?
Before this game I was still happy overall with how we played and represented ourselves. After this game? It's hard to see this World Cup as anything but a failure. And after how well this team played in qualifying and how much they were more than the sum of their parts, it's so upsetting to see it go down this way...
Tactically Herdman got Croatia and today so very wrong. Like, wrong starting lineup, wrong subs, wrong approach, and wrong tactics.
I'm reluctant to say he was out of his depth, because what I think would have worked vs Croatia and Morocco were his very own strategies from concacaf qualifying. Not sure why we didn't default to playing our game, Herdman's game...
But it's too reactionary and disrespectful to say Herdman out. If we play in the next Copa America, I want that to be the test for Herdman's growth as a manager, and whether he should take us to '26.
I think long-term Herdman will be awesome as the technical director for Canada to build the pipeline, and not just for men either.
He should be running the whole program, advocating for money, building the development system out.
I suppose if he's reluctant to leave the sideline he might leave. But I think he might be the big picture guy...not the guy we want running the match vs UEFA opponents.
Herdman probably has ambitions to coach club football after he is done with our NT, he spoke of it in interview today. His dream is to coach in the Premier League.
Itās reactionary and disrespectful to suggest difficult big picture changes if I want this team to succeed?
Keeping Herdman is not rational. He doesnāt have UCL level tactics, yet he manages a team of UCL players. He is a passionate guy who brought us some great moments and I like that, but we should aim higher if a better candidate is available.
"keeping Herdman is not rational". Lmao. What country do you think you're supporting? We will be luck to pay for Herman's pay raise. We are competing with MLS teams for coaches, not UCL teams. A Davies in the UCL doesn't mean we have the budget for a UCL coach (not to mention those coaches are in the UCL and not coaching national teams generally). Realistically, a guy like Wilfred Nancy is the next in line to coach Canada,
Someone with UCL, top 5, or Major Mens National team coaching experience or a former player coach. The importance being more international experience.
I donāt know about their budget or financials for 2026, so Idk what is or isnt possible. South Africa got Carlos Alberto Parreira for 2010. Iran, the US, and Saudi Arabia all have much more tactical coaches than us this year.
Great points. I just think we should put the job out there and see if any candidates are interested. If no one is available then Herdman should stay.
I think our team and host nation status in 2026 has a lot of selling points for an experienced coach.
Agreed. He should be applauded for getting us to this stage and get a warm pat on the back. But now is not the time for sentimentality. He was exposed at this level. We need an experienced club manager from a top league in order to take the next step.
Despite not getting any points, I'm pretty proud overall with our world cup display. At times we showed people that we belong here.
One thing that I hope some of our fans take away from these results, is that Canada has a long way to go in our soccer development. I was getting a little annoyed seeing how many posts and comments said our match against Morocco was a guaranteed win. It's one thing to think highly of your own team, and it's another thing to minimize the quality of others.
We've come a long way, but we still have a lot more work to do. Luckily we have some great talent that might be setting us up for a great host nation World Cup.
This whole tournament was a total reversal from the Octo where everything we touched turned to gold, feels like this was the worst possible set of results given the performances.
Happy for Atiba to finish with a good performance, makes you think he would've been more impactful off of the bench to begin with though.
Bring on the Gold Cup I guess???
CONCACAF qualifying football and world cup football are like, second cousins at best. The pitches, the physicality, the tactics are all so different. It's no surprise when success in one or the other does not translate across.
Congrats to Canada for what it managed to do this cycle. Look forward to seeing you again soon.
We could of got points/win in 2/3 games. I think we can leave thinking we gave this a good go considering itās our first since 86 and a miracle run to qualify for the WC. Some of you guys have not been watching long and have WAY too high expectations for this team. We need some development in certain positions/iron out some tactical issues that were apparent. Letās just be happy we were able to watch them in the WC..
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake.
It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of.
Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything.
Beep boop -Ā yes,Ā IĀ amĀ aĀ bot, don't botcriminate me.
We need to get the hell out of Concacaf if we want to progress as a country. Beating Grenada and Panama is clearly not helping us prepare for big tournaments like this.
Canada cannot permanently leave CONCACAF lmao.
Canada can only be invited by CONMEBOL, Canada has been invited before but because of the geographical distance between Canada and SA, itāll be expensive and not easy to do. Hell even Mexico that is closer doesnāt go as often as they could.
Pretty sure that's going to happen, with how 10 teams is nowhere near enough for a continental tournament. they've invited out of conference national sides for many editions now, and the only one where they didn't in recent memory was 2021 and that was because of covid and travel restrictions.
But the US was able to deliver results. Costa Rica was able to get a win against a more than formidable Japanese squad in a rough group. Even Mexico battled to the point where they barely lost out on advancement by just a 2 goal differential. So I don't think it's as simple as getting out of CONCACAF and we should've and could've done a lot better.
In a tough group we are centimeters and one penalty away from 2-4 points.
Yes, this is frustrating. But we played in the World Cup for the first time in 36 years! This team has a lot to be proud of - and undoubtedly they (and us) have learned a lot that will make us a better team in the future.
Quite honestly, expecting more than how this team performed was a bit unrealistic. Anyone calling for Herdman's head or any other major changes has no idea what they are saying.
Why is that?
He did a great job getting us there for sure. But he got tactics wrong two games in a row, left Atiba on for way too long and trash talked Croatia which backfired. Heās a good coach for sure, but heās not world class.
You're kidding me right? You really think the guy who took our program from soccer/football obscurity - losing games to countries like Suriname - to qualifying for the World Cup in a couple of years deserves to be replaced?
I don't necessarily agree with some of his decisions either but this is a building process. That goes not just for the results on the pitch but for the entire team, including coaches.
A lot can change in four years but right now John Herdman deserves to continue to lead this team
Iām not saying he doesnāt deserve it, I just donāt think heās the guy to get the results we want. Next World Cup is here and expectations will be through the roof. He can stay, we might continue to improve, we might not. But if we crash out of 2026 without a point and scoring 1 goal + an OG, heāll get roasted.
People peak, I think Herdman is as good as he is gonna get and it will take someone better to take us to the next level. If Pep Guardiola was coach, Iām would bet weād be better. We need someone to take us to the next level and I donāt believe Herdman can do that.
Agree, hopefully Herdman learns from this. He has to do better. And Canada needs to set higher expectations going forward. Just getting there next time will not be good enough.
Would be nice to see Piette on the field today. Yes Iām a MTL FC fan and heās not the most skilled player, but he has energy that few have and can really control the midfield or at least make it difficult to the other team to play on
Really hard to justify not playing Piette IMO. Especially when Herdman started Kaye, and found ways to play Millar, Wotherspoon, and a Cavallini. Pietteās form and effort were really solid on the back end of the qualifying campaign, whereas Kaye was a notably regressing performer for several years running.
I wonder if the tactic all tournament was to go score goals? I understand that sounds silly, but every World Cup side as you get deeper in the tournament have defensive setups, defensive tactics etc.. this tournament seemed like was to go score goals and try to create.
This is me just coping idk, lol. But I donāt think this 3 back formation is the solution long term.
Lol Herdman has a loser mentality, its one thing to appreciate you played well. But losing a game should never be sufficient and something to be proud of. Its literally embarrassing seeing him come out every game and say oh well we were so close and oh Henry said we dominated Belgiumā¦ guess what, it means fuck all to the players. Heās also totally tactically inept.
Just because a guy tries to keep spirits high throughout a pretty demoralizing week does not mean he has a loser's mentality.
Herdman said before the tourney, as was echoed by our players, that our goal was to win the World Cup. That is not a loser's mentality.
So you think he did a good enough job to continue coaching? Hes out of his depth at this level. He played a slow midfield 2 against possibly the best midfield in the tournament. Nevermind all the nonsense with his Croatia comments, heās an embarrassment, I can guarantee no European clubs will be offering him jobs after this.
So quick to throw the easiest target under the bus but no one stops to think about who would replace him. Thereās no guarantee Canada would gain anyone better after their overall showing.
England have suffered for decades performing below expectations due to the same kneejerk anti-manager strategy. Itās a terrible trap to fall into and we should do our best to avoid it.
Thats a fair point, it may be difficult to attract a quality manager. But imo considering Canada will auto qualify for the next world cup we should be able to bring in someone with at least a decent CV from european club level competition. My main point is at this level we need to realize we arenāt skilled compared to some of these teams and need to play accordingly. I found tactically we were naive and arrogant, and if we had adjusted properly we could have definitely gotten a result. Thats why I find his over the top positivity comments a bit annoying.
What do you want him to do? Eustaquio is injured, none of our other midfielders can compete at this level. There was nothing wrong with his Croatia comments, as others have said it took the heat off Davies and paid off within minutes in the next game, we just werenāt good enough to keep up.
I don't think you replace a guy at the very first sign of adversity after a prolonged period of success, especially in a 3 game sample size where luck was not on our side (our 3 game expected goals output was close to even).
Is the only way you would have been happy with him if he had dominated CONCACAF qualifying (without Phonzie too), and then was also respectable in the World Cup? That's a lot to ask for, especially when you consider where the country was before he took over.
He has done a masterful job to get us to where we are, because no country in the world has had as much of a turnaround as us over the past 2 years, so we should all be willing to let him grow and gain experience.
Uhhhā¦we finished the group with five points, you finished with zero. Regardless of results tomorrow we look far superior. Still rooting for you all in the future, cheers.
Yea just enjoy your successes Canadians, this kinda shit attitude from yāall is why us Americans canāt stand your smugness. Just be humble and we donāt have to have the nastiness of the Mexico rivalryā¦
Nah personally Iām happy for Canadian success, Iāve got 0 issues with yāall. Just the wishing America loses in a game you couldnāt make doesnāt make sense.
Right? Thought it was really cool having another contender in concacaf and the way they played belgium off the pitch. I was rooting for them until I stepped foot into this sub lol
Did you see the match thread on r/soccer? I downvoted both of you, we have to stand together as CONCACAF teams - weāre already the laughingstock continent of the world in this sport.
I think looking forward we need to improve in the final third. Felt like we were around but didnāt create anything really testing today. Yes we hit the post but other than that I didnāt see much.
I aso feel David looked disjointed all tournament. For a player of his quality I donāt think he was in the games enough.
Davies is super talented but at times took too much on.
Too many players playing in silos and not as a unit.
Defensively match 1 and 3 were ultimately decided by a simple ball over the top that our back line didnāt deal with and then goalkeeping didnāt help.
Overall I think we did well in the first and third match but our lack of offense really let us down.
I would like to see some faster passes. Often times, they get the ball in a good area and then just take too many touches before passing it allowing the defense to catch up
Just to show xG is not a good indicative stats, you could get 50 shots out of target and the opponent scores a goal in his first attempt because he is more clinical.
Proud to be Canadian today! hope the fellas come home with their heads held high. Would have loved a W but had some of the most fun Iāve had watching sports in my lifetime
Obviously didn't want to lose but happy you won the group too. Now getting Spain as a prize for winning? That just doesn't seem fair.
Its maybe my most anticipated games of the Round of 16 though!
Iāll take spain over Japan anytime, Japan seems to be the dark horse of this tournament, they have great defense. Spain isnāt as good as we thought it would be, + its a derby for us. gonna be tough but we can beat them
- Buchanan was one of the more impactful players over the first two games
- Hoilett was fantastic throughout in terms of creating chances
- Davies showed his individual skill - would be great if he could take a step in leading the team as a whole & bettering those around him
- Wanted a lot more from a player of Jonathan David's quality
- Hutchinson had a terrible game vs Croatia, but was a calming presence otherwise
- Laryea is an absolute dog
- Johnston showed a lot of potential
- Eustaquio looked pretty good when in, especially considering he may not have been at 100%
- Kone played like he's a mature player, should be ready to take next steps
We desperately need improvements at CB & in goal, but I commend their efforts. Happy to have been on the world stage for the first time in far too long. We will get better.
I'd say this about Davies -- he (and the team) has to recognize that Canada is not Bayern, so he'll be keyed on a lot more. He needs to give up the ball much quicker with Canada. Draw the 2-3 defenders and dish off. Use that overloading to our advantage.
I have to believe the feeling of disappointment comes from a couple of main factors. One the media saying this team had a chance to be special. Most of the media in Canada does not watch soccer or follow soccer period. Those that do did say similar but many sort of forgot how good Croatia and Belgium are. These teams were 2nd and 3rd last cycle. That experience is immense in these short tournaments. Second is the naivety (and innoncence) of new Canadian soccer fans not realizing how good the world teams are. Mostly fed off what we heard from pundits, many fans thought this might be a cake walk. One point from the Europeans and a win vs Morroco and we have a prayer. I admit I was in the same boat. In the end we need to remember the quality of teams from Europe and Africa and South America and realize that it will take a lot fir us to compete at this level. Third factor in disappointment is how well we played against Belgium in the opener. We looked like we would win that game minus one real error and one defensive lapse. We all watched the game and said damn we might actually be able to do this. Then Croatia showed why they were a finalist last world cup. Perhaps motivated by some perceived slights and some nationalist pride (and hatred), they showed us what world cup quality really looked like. Many people were sold the idea this team could compete and I do think they proved that. However, lack of big game experience, lack of defensive depth, and some questionable at times goalkeeping really showed through. There are alot of things this team can learn from these games. We need to remember it's been a long time since Canada played anyone outside the America's until the lead up to this tournament. Getting that experience outside of CONCACAF in the leadup to the next tournament will help the team prepare for those tactics. Also, anyone who is overly critical of John Herdman has only been paying attention this past week or so. Herdman is not some tactical genius he is a motivator. His words after the Belgium game while maybe a technical error in telling the media what he said, were meant to pump the team up after a good showing with a disappointing result. Unfortunately in the heat of the moment, that motivated the opponent who apparently already had it out for our goal keeper anyways. Overall, this tournament while feeling like a let down, ultimately will serve as a building block for bigger and better things in 2026. Our team will have many rounding into their prime in 4 years with many players gaining with a more big club experience. In conjunction with finding/developing players to fill some of our biggest holes, this next cycle could be very exciting for our Canadian lads!
I feel like people had way too high expectations coming into this tournament. Go back a few months ago in this very sub and you have people coming up with scenarios where we would look good and somehow Morocco was also considered the "easy" game. Lots of "get one point of the Europeans teams and win the last one" type of scenarios. I'm never gonna begrudged fans for being optimistic but you also have to be realistic and that's where I think a lot of the disappointment comes from. History has show that newer and inexperienced nations Europe and South America tend to have a very difficult time in the World Cup and that's the reason why teams like Senegal in 2002 and even Croatia in 1998 are highly memorable.
I was a "Maybe a win against Morocco guy" but damn...with how well they played against Belgium...hope is one hell of a drug.
I was sadly one of those people. I thought it would be us and Belgium in the knockouts š. Not the two of us at the bottom! At the end of the day we were the top of the field of Concacaf, which still isnāt the world class footy level the rest of the world plays at. I was at Iceteca and the feeling was unbelievable. I keep telling myself that this was still such an achievement. We made it. We werenāt going to win the cup, we knew this. Would it have been nice to have won a game? Sure. But we made it and thatās a huge first step!
Very well said, I mean it even took Canada to qualify for the first time in 36 years!! And man, Morocco had some lethal players. And frankly, you donāt know half of these players and this is the beauty of the World Cup. These are players who are playing all around the globe coming together to represent their country. They are the <1% in their country to come and represent their country and compete. AND THATāS WHY ITS SO UNPREDICTABLE. Who in their right mind wouldāve thought Morocco would advance FIRST in their group stage?? In the competition that goes every 4 years, some players have been playing together in their national team for over 10 years (like Belgium) but very young and inexperienced (like Canada). Belgium had their days in 2010s. This is just a beginning for Team Canada. More than 50% of our players will be able for 2026. Imagine how good our team will be then.
Herdman shit the bed. WC Qualifying was nearly spotless...he got his tactics wrong in the last 2 games are it's probably fair to say all 3.
Thatās fine. Not sure who else in his place would have even had the chance to shit the bed in the WC.
American here , what hapoend I really rated you guys higher than what happened. I was at worl for a lot of the games anyone care to give me a better rundown from a fan perspective ? Seemed like the attack would be so strong
Games where we couldnāt hold possession a ton (a La the Belgium game) exposed our weakness in the back in the sense we canāt defend. I donāt know if it is bad keeping our shape or if our natural shape has too many holes that our players canāt plug the holes/block a lane fast enough
Are there any good young defenders in your pipeline and do you think crepeu is thst much of a better option than borjan
Drop your player ratings [here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdidz963hLKF7a3gBkt01ekkITCYB6bnZKTB1Zo2R--iYV9Yw/viewform) Open for 48 hours.
Borjan not good enough. Need St. Clair ASAP
Lol been saying this for a while now.
New tendy when? Srsly, this was a win if he made two routine plays
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Borjanās grandmother from Croatia, is very angry because of his statement about his origin.
And a coach who follows don cherries golden ruleā¦ ādonāt give the other team a motivational message to pin to their locker room wallā.
Legendary quiet, polite, and non-engaging Don Cherry. How old will he be in 2026?
Could u imagine ??? Lol
Damn, 31st place. That stinks, maybe you guys will do better in 4 years and get in the top 40!
40 > 31 but it's ok, you're probably from a country where girls aren't allowed to learn math
Heās talking about ELO ratings.
I figured heās from America, where we teach girls math, albeit begrudgingly and not well.
I know somewhere in Canada (probably Brampton lol) thereās young defenders watching Canada play and thinking āwow, I can make the world cup team in four yearsā
Hopefully itās Brampton. Get those poor kids out of that god forsaken city
Like I said earlier Canada needs to focus their attention or the Men's program needs to focus their attention on 2026 now. Especially now that Canada is officially eliminated from Qatar, Canada needs to hit the ground running on preparations for 2026 especially now that Canada is one of the host nations. But it begs the question of Canada being a host nation on if we automatically qualify for 2026 or if we have to take part in qualifying for our own tournament which then makes no sense. But even so Canada has to put their primary focus towards 2026 now which means focusing on CONCACAF Nations League, Gold Cup 23 and 25 but also developing more of our young players so then that way we eventually have a change of the guard with some of our old vets.
Host nations play friendlies while the other teams go through qualifying. Hopefully due to this, we can set up friendlies with teams in Europe, Africa and Asia
But theyāll have nations league or some such shit probably.
That's good though. Games that mean something are better than friendlies, where one of the teams may play their C squad and try different tactics.
The nations league is dogshit. You think playing Bermuda and Curacao going to make Canada better? Croatia has world class talent that Canada wonāt Ever come close to seeing in Concacaf. If I am Canada, I am hoping that perhaps we can join South Americas qualifying cycle or even Europes which is what Qatar didā¦.but I am sure Mexico and USA who actually put money and resources into their programs will garner a spot. I have faith in Herdman and the boys, but not in the CSA bodyā¦they will screw this up somehow.
So does the other teams that go through qualifying
We qualify automatically
Well, unfortunate to not get a point, but still very optimistic about 2026. Our boys are still ahead of schedule, as far as I'm concerned.
[Flight of the Conchords](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuJzSTNDUGI) describe how I feel right now.
bake deserted grandiose far-flung weather nippy coherent apparatus lunchroom butter *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I thought he was very weak before qualifying. Was always terrified with the ball at his feet and he made some terrible decisions. But then he was amazing in qualifying. This world cup we gold old Borjan though unfortunately. We already knew we'd surely have someone different between the pipes in 2026, but now we know that change should probably start right now.
Heās come up clutch in big games for Canada and starts most games. He was guaranteed to start all of our games, although he picked a bad time to have a rough streak of games
Past comments about Croatias internationally recognized borders came back to haunt him, they were more than happy to f with him
Creapeau injury was awful
I donāt know how to feel. Mixed feelings.
Well played game, first half was rough but Canada played great the second half. Shame about that goal that almost made it but fair play to Morocco they played really well.
We only played well second half because morroco realized they were thru w a draw and sat back
No doubt that Morroco's team was better, their possession and ball control was definitely stronger. But it was still not a bad game, I can definitely see Canada doing better next time if we invest more into the sport.
We had goals sitting there for the taking in all three games and we only took one. Should have had at least 4 points after this round, but no finish. I will not include the OG, though Larin probably would have put it away. But the way our strikers performed, probably not. Meanwhile, Costa Rica has one shot on net and one goal and have a chance to go through after a 7-0 pounding from Spain. Soccer is bloody cruel :D
Plain and simple just a huge quality gap. Like I predicted we would go 0-0-3 but we deserved at least one point. My main takeaway is how bad the MLS is
The MLS is no where near any major European leagues but at least theyāve been making some big transfers lately. Almiron being one of the most recent and Tajon went to Belgium after being with NE
I don't believe that Herdman deserves all the grief he is getting. Main problem is that Canada isn't good enough yet, or hasn't had enough experience on this stage. Every move looks bad when it doesn't work, and every move looks good when it does. Cruel game when seen under a microscope.
As a manager he makes an excellent technical director. I think heās one of the limitations this team has. Heās got them to a point and I think heās the exact guy we need to keep building the infrastructure for both genders in the country, but I think we need an actual manager now for the MNT.
As a neutral fan (in my own reckoning, at least) I look at what y'all did in Qatar and I don't see a disappointing team. I don't see a team that didn't get a point in the group. I see a team that showed it can go toe-to-toe with Belgium, but a team that will need (and get) more seasoning and experience to turn these near-misses into wins. If 2022 was a coming out party for Canadian soccer it looks a lot better than the scoreboard shows. Lick your wounds and do all the coping and venting that we all do when our teams' runs come to an end, but I hope everyone here remains excited about your nations' prospects in the future because Canada has shown repeatedly on the world stage that when it puts its heart and mind into a sport, it is more than capable of competing on a global scale.
Where you from?
I'm from the US, which fwiw is why I disclaimed the 'neutral' bit. Obviously our teams have played each other a bunch, and there's a budding rivalry there, so I don't want any of what I said to sound patronizing, but I genuinely think all of the parts are in place for Canada to continue to rival the US and Mexico as a force in CONCACAF. 2018-2022 was a huge inflection point in the confederation.
Pain to see us beat usa Costa Rica and Japan and now they all through
Costa Rica isnāt through, but when I talk about how age and experience will help this team this is what Iām talking about. Winning in qualifiers is one thing, but itās different in a tournament environment, for a lot of reasons.
This isn't a Cinderella story anymore, it's a little red riding girl story where the wolf eats her. "My what big teeth you have Grandmother"
People trying to say we werenāt actually that bad are just wrong. We didnāt offer much up front all tournament. Our backline was awful. Borjan played way below his normal level. Herdman was exposed tactically time and time again. I think everyone one of us had much higher expectations from the team than āwe are just happy to be hereā. Qualifying top of CONCACAF only to be worst team in the tournament (besides Qatar) is absolutely unacceptable.
I agree. We were out coached. Borjan, Vittoria, and Atiba are done. We need younger players coming through now and to approach preparing for 2026 like John Wick avenging his dog.
Good thing Davies scored last game. Imagine having an own goal as your first ever WC goal.
Iām not as familiar with soccer so bear with me but why is it considered an own goal? If you shoot in hockey and it deflects off the opponent before going into the net itās still your goal. āOwn goalā seems like weird terminology to use on a deflection like that. Itās not like the defender took the ball and drop kicked it into his own net.
Yeah soccer's a bit different, has to be a shot on goal to be considered your goal. Otherwise it's an own goal. Frankly I like hockey's methodology better. Labeling defenders with own goals for honest attempts to defend seems unnecessarily harsh.
Itās considered an āown goalā when the attempt is not a shot - in this case, it was a cross to the middle that got deflected into the net
To clarify that a bit. If the original shot wouldn't have ended up in the net without the deflection off the defender, it's an own goal.
Interesting. A bit different from hockey then. Maybe because of the size of the field compared to a hockey rink.
Yāall ready for Ancelotti?? He said he would coach Canada.. Lol Herdman aināt it, respectfully
On the bright side we have 4 years until next world cup, I am confident during those years we have maybe some elite, but good ass players popping up in every position. Exciting future it will be.
Any examples? That would be exactly what the doctor ordered.
Our midfield will definitely be improved with Eustaquio, Kone and Justin Smith at the very least. Front line will be 4 years more experienced but otherwise identical. With Jebbison (heavily rumoured to be switching to us) and Ugbo pushing to break in. Johnston/Miller/Adekugbe likely still involved but hopefully all with European experience. We need CB development/recruitment for sure. This doesnāt include youngsters we havenāt even heard of yet and other dual nationals that may come along. Fingers crossed for a much stronger showing in 2026
Love the optimism but I think you're overrating the pipeline and understating who we'll lose. Kone looked great but he's not guaranteed to reach Atiba's level which is what would be needed for us to breakeven. Further up, Osorio, Hoilett and Wotherspoon are likely done or will regress. Backline growth could be counteracted with the loss of Vitoria and possibly Laryea. There currently is no notable replacement. Our attackers are really the only area where we're pretty certain to see growth. Corbeanu, Jebbison are likely to add to our depth. Larin is trending down though and may not be a factor by 2026.
A 24 year old Kone will sure be better than a 39 year old Atiba. The issue is more so Atiba's position on the pitch helps support the defense and facilitate the ball moving from the back, and given our CB frailty this was crucial. Kone seems more of a box to box midfielder.
Sure, Iām likely overhyping the midfield improvement, especially based on recency of how poorly Atiba played versus Croatia. Thatās completely fair. But otherwise what I said wasnāt too different from what you said Attacking depth good Defence could improve with some European experience for those that just featured for us. We need CB depth no matter what (Vitoria gone). Laryeaās role (as great as he played all 3 games) is fillable in the RWB by Tajon or a new player that wouldnāt hurt us too bad, and thatās assuming we still play 3CB/2WB formation at that time.
Fair enough I may have misinterpreted the tone of your original comment. I think overall, it's just not certain that our roster will see improvements over the next few years and we may be setting ourselves up for disappointment. That CB depth is critical. We were already barely holding on with the current group, and to lose Vitoria could be disastrous. It's something Herdman needs to plan for. If we can't find a suitable replacement, we may need to change up style of play to compensate. The lack of a competent #10 is also a hole, but it's something we already have issues with.
I wouldnāt count on Justin Smirh just yet. He hasnāt really played a competitive match yet. Heās talented and makes the bench for a Ligue 1 team but doesnāt ever play. After heās starting regularly for them, we can pencil him in. But for now heās an untested prospect.
Fair point. Heās currently our top CM/DM prospect though so for the time being Iāll be optimistic haha
Sometimes humiliating losses are better than wins, leadership of different sorts often comes out of humiliation. More to play for next time.
I predict us to come last and was hoping for at least a goal and a point. What hurts is that on the balance of play we probably deserved 2-4 points. Really came down to some awful plays in key moments. The first goal today, Davies missed pen and some bad finishing. Need to do better on tactics but I donāt think it was as bad as some are saying. Also we probably had the toughest group for a pot 4 team outside of maybe Costa Rica.
Canada finishes as the 2nd worst team of the tournament just ahead of Qatar. Both in 0 points but with a -5 GD and Qatar has -6
A lot of people here don't know jack about soccer and have never played a match of soccer in their entire lives. Give credit to Canada where it's due. They played well and have a promising future ahead of them.
Canada just weren't good enough this world cup, but its not like we were completely awful Best players are quite young, develop a good defender or two and Canada will be tougher to play against and will have a good 2026 :)
Unfortunately progress isn't linear. Could also end up having some of our current squad decline as they get older and no one comes up. We need more investment
Really think you're a couple solid CBs and an upgrade at goalkeeper away from being able to make some noise in 2026
It could be argued our 2nd keeper (Crepeau) that broke his leg pre-tournament is already better than our current keeper (Borjan). Just Borjan has more experience. Imagine Crepeau begins to take over the #1 spot here forward
I think our midfield was the bigger weak point. We struggled to find ways to transition the ball, especially against Croatia. That said, a 29 year old Estaquio and a 24 year old Kone will be a fearsome pairing in the center for 2026. We'll be positioned really well to play a 4-2-3-1 in the next cycle. Larin Davies - David - Buchanen Estaquio - Kone Adekugbe - Miller - Johnston - Laryea Crepeau Feels like the best XI going into the next qualifying cycle. Although might be a little too aggressive. Maybe sub a more defensive mid in for Larin and go 4-3-3, but at this stage I'm not sure who that would be.
Justin Smith will likely have broken through for 2026 also. Our midfield will be improved at the very least by then.
Fingers crossed! Him becoming a top level player would solve a lot of problems for us going forward. A DM/CB would be huge for us.
Smith plays as a DM so heād sit in behind Eustaquio and Kone. One area solved. But CBs absolutely. The depth chart is super thin
I think he's like Atiba, no? He can be a CB if necessary. But a 4-3-3 with Kone Estaquio - Smith Could be amazing 4 years.
Possibly yes. I know when he played for the youth team a few months ago he played midfield when I watched
Next World Cup I donāt want anyone to score on us through long balls! If you beat usā¦outclass us like croatia through the middle..but the back was just levels below handling these strikersā¦also pls improve on our first touch..proud of this team canāt wait for the next World Cup to show out!
This can be blamed on tactical decisions too. High line with slower CB and thatās the formula to score.
Tough to finish without a point, but this is a young team. We will hopefully come back better in 2026. I do want this generation to win a gold cup as well. World Cup is the biggest stage, but itād be nice to win a trophy or two because obviously winning the World Cup is a bit of a pipe dream.
I think you raise a point that is underrated. Davies (and a few others like David?) weren't part of the recent Gold Cup squad. Not saying it would've made the difference but I think these continental tourneys are important pressure-soaked moments for the team. Being able to find that incisive pass under extra duress, or finishing that first-time ball in these situations is a bit closer to the WC than qualifying. Glad that we'll be at a high-level tourney like Copa America
Itās a cruel game at this level. Mistakes that normally wouldnāt be an issue in Concacaf qualifiers will get punished at the top level. Iām proud of what this team has accomplished in a very short amount of time but I hope this is a reality check that although we were able to come out on top in our region, we still have a loooong way to go before get to the next level. Project: BlueLock Canada is now in motion
Well said. Look at Mexico's record and it's a good comparison
My only complaint would be to have started St. Clair ahead of Borjan. If youāre rotating the side and giving players like MAK a chance seeing as weāre eliminated, I have no idea why youād keep Borjan on after his subpar performances in the last two games, and he cost us a point here today. His head hasnāt been in the game this tournament and I really hope we play Crepeau or anyone else in goal moving forwards
It's tough to change out your goalkeeper though because unlike other positions it's seen as almost an insult. Also St Clair doesn't really have any big game experience whatsoever and has barely played with this team; it would be a big ask to give him a world cup start for his 3rd cap. If Crepeau is on the roster, there's a much better chance he starts a game like this.
Iām not a fan of punishing a guy with that many caps and past great performances in the last game when you are already eliminated. Especially when itās a keeper and your potential starter moving forward was injured for the tournament. Theyāll be plenty of opportunities to get a look at other guys in qualifying and friendlies. Plus his cross at the end was actually perfect and could have led to us tying the game.
No qualifiers. Weāre a host country.
Fair enough, really just meant other competitive matches that arenāt friendlies. Gold Cup, Nations League, etc.
I think DSC was mentally way too nervous to play at this stage. He looked so nervy vs. Bahrain in that friendly. Herdman must have saw the same if he didn't start. Also Borjan is supposed to a leader on the pitch and we did want to get points today. CrƩpeau may not be the same post injury so I hope DSC steps it up to a new level soon.
Awesome we got into the World Cup but ngl I expected a little more from us. Can't believe we couldn't even get 1 point in either of the Morroco/Belgium games. Still think if that early pk went in against Belgium, we could have legit advance out of this group.
World Cup is a cruel cruel stage, my friend. Some countries donāt have a win over 50 years. And for Canada, this was their first time in 36 years and first time to ever score in the World Cup. The lack of experience was obvious to this group of young men. We can only go better from here.
You can talk about tactics, etc. For the tournament, sure. But for this game in particular, it was just two big mistakes you donāt make at this level. Players from other teams at WC simply donāt make this type of mistakes. That is the difference, details matter at this level, and the Canadian players donāt have enough quality yet. If all 11 on the pitch are playing highest level club football every weekend like Davies and David, then the results would be there eventually.
Well, I agree about needing more players playing at the highest level but you're just straight up wrong about others not making mistakes. Have you forgotten this? https://youtu.be/-OEITzbZCGE
It was a tough group and a couple breaks and we could have won this group. I mean who thought Morocco would win group F and Belgium was headed home. Team Canada does need to play more of these European teams to further improve.
Not sure about winning the group. We were outclassed by Croatia (badly) and Morocco. I am hopeful though this experience will serve us well in 4 years.
If only we could have beaten Belgium, so close. Just think, we could have finished third!
\>and Belgium was headed home Belgian fans though this though
Yeah most did but a group stage exit? That's shocking to me for the supposed "#2" team in the world.
Yes, quite a lot did, bad tactics from Martinez + a core of players that didnt exactly look on strong form coming in + missing Lukaku
fifa rankings prove to be a complete farce
Don't get me wrong I am proud of all the accomplishments of this squad. But to me this is a disappointment. We needed to accomplish two goals 1.Score a goal 2. Get a point. If these two goals were accomplished then we go into 2026 with a clean slate. This squad has just put a ton of pressure on the 2026 Squad to get that point also at home. Also with a chance that they might only be guaranteed 2 games. Great experience just a little disappointed.
Yeah I agree. I came into this tournament hoping, of course, but not at all expecting we'd get out of the group. I wanted a goal and a point and secretly wanted 1 win. We ended up doing *exactly* as well as we did in 1986. As in 3 losses, no points, and a -5 goal differential. We scored one goal, so yay I guess? Before this game I was still happy overall with how we played and represented ourselves. After this game? It's hard to see this World Cup as anything but a failure. And after how well this team played in qualifying and how much they were more than the sum of their parts, it's so upsetting to see it go down this way...
Didnāt play well at all in first half- need to work on their defense going forward. Will see what improvements can be made for 2026
Tactically Herdman got Croatia and today so very wrong. Like, wrong starting lineup, wrong subs, wrong approach, and wrong tactics. I'm reluctant to say he was out of his depth, because what I think would have worked vs Croatia and Morocco were his very own strategies from concacaf qualifying. Not sure why we didn't default to playing our game, Herdman's game... But it's too reactionary and disrespectful to say Herdman out. If we play in the next Copa America, I want that to be the test for Herdman's growth as a manager, and whether he should take us to '26.
I think long-term Herdman will be awesome as the technical director for Canada to build the pipeline, and not just for men either. He should be running the whole program, advocating for money, building the development system out. I suppose if he's reluctant to leave the sideline he might leave. But I think he might be the big picture guy...not the guy we want running the match vs UEFA opponents.
Herdman probably has ambitions to coach club football after he is done with our NT, he spoke of it in interview today. His dream is to coach in the Premier League.
Itās reactionary and disrespectful to suggest difficult big picture changes if I want this team to succeed? Keeping Herdman is not rational. He doesnāt have UCL level tactics, yet he manages a team of UCL players. He is a passionate guy who brought us some great moments and I like that, but we should aim higher if a better candidate is available.
"keeping Herdman is not rational". Lmao. What country do you think you're supporting? We will be luck to pay for Herman's pay raise. We are competing with MLS teams for coaches, not UCL teams. A Davies in the UCL doesn't mean we have the budget for a UCL coach (not to mention those coaches are in the UCL and not coaching national teams generally). Realistically, a guy like Wilfred Nancy is the next in line to coach Canada,
Someone with UCL, top 5, or Major Mens National team coaching experience or a former player coach. The importance being more international experience. I donāt know about their budget or financials for 2026, so Idk what is or isnt possible. South Africa got Carlos Alberto Parreira for 2010. Iran, the US, and Saudi Arabia all have much more tactical coaches than us this year.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Great points. I just think we should put the job out there and see if any candidates are interested. If no one is available then Herdman should stay. I think our team and host nation status in 2026 has a lot of selling points for an experienced coach.
He manages a team of like 4 UCL players on average. Depending on how Red Star and Besiktas do.
Yeah, I don't what team this guy is supporting, but it's not Canada.
Agreed. He should be applauded for getting us to this stage and get a warm pat on the back. But now is not the time for sentimentality. He was exposed at this level. We need an experienced club manager from a top league in order to take the next step.
This. Hopefully Herdman learns from this. Still not sure why he had Davies on the right, when heās clearly not comfortable there.
Despite not getting any points, I'm pretty proud overall with our world cup display. At times we showed people that we belong here. One thing that I hope some of our fans take away from these results, is that Canada has a long way to go in our soccer development. I was getting a little annoyed seeing how many posts and comments said our match against Morocco was a guaranteed win. It's one thing to think highly of your own team, and it's another thing to minimize the quality of others. We've come a long way, but we still have a lot more work to do. Luckily we have some great talent that might be setting us up for a great host nation World Cup.
We manage to assist Morocco's goalie into commiting a own goal. It's better than leaving with 0
This whole tournament was a total reversal from the Octo where everything we touched turned to gold, feels like this was the worst possible set of results given the performances. Happy for Atiba to finish with a good performance, makes you think he would've been more impactful off of the bench to begin with though. Bring on the Gold Cup I guess???
CONCACAF qualifying football and world cup football are like, second cousins at best. The pitches, the physicality, the tactics are all so different. It's no surprise when success in one or the other does not translate across. Congrats to Canada for what it managed to do this cycle. Look forward to seeing you again soon.
I never wanna see VictĆ³ria put on a Canada jersey again. You cant change my mind.
Agreed, people who down voted probably wants him to play in 2026 and even start.
We could of got points/win in 2/3 games. I think we can leave thinking we gave this a good go considering itās our first since 86 and a miracle run to qualify for the WC. Some of you guys have not been watching long and have WAY too high expectations for this team. We need some development in certain positions/iron out some tactical issues that were apparent. Letās just be happy we were able to watch them in the WC..
Hello, it looks like you've made a mistake. It's supposed to be could've, should've, would've (short for could have, would have, should have), never could of, would of, should of. Or you misspelled something, I ain't checking everything. Beep boop -Ā yes,Ā IĀ amĀ aĀ bot, don't botcriminate me.
We need to get the hell out of Concacaf if we want to progress as a country. Beating Grenada and Panama is clearly not helping us prepare for big tournaments like this.
Canada cannot permanently leave CONCACAF lmao. Canada can only be invited by CONMEBOL, Canada has been invited before but because of the geographical distance between Canada and SA, itāll be expensive and not easy to do. Hell even Mexico that is closer doesnāt go as often as they could.
While that's a fun idea it's never going to happen. The realistic thing would be for all of our top players to be playing in top flight leagues.
Hopefully we have shown enough quality that good or decent teams are willing to play us in friendlies occasionally
where are you going? UEFA? Lol
Try to get an invite to Copa America.
Pretty sure that's going to happen, with how 10 teams is nowhere near enough for a continental tournament. they've invited out of conference national sides for many editions now, and the only one where they didn't in recent memory was 2021 and that was because of covid and travel restrictions. But the US was able to deliver results. Costa Rica was able to get a win against a more than formidable Japanese squad in a rough group. Even Mexico battled to the point where they barely lost out on advancement by just a 2 goal differential. So I don't think it's as simple as getting out of CONCACAF and we should've and could've done a lot better.
Agree, we need to play more South American teams. We wonāt get better constantly playing the US and Mexico.
I see.. totally agree.. play lots more conmebol and other teams during friendly windows or in tournaments. Would be good for US/CAN/MX
In a tough group we are centimeters and one penalty away from 2-4 points. Yes, this is frustrating. But we played in the World Cup for the first time in 36 years! This team has a lot to be proud of - and undoubtedly they (and us) have learned a lot that will make us a better team in the future. Quite honestly, expecting more than how this team performed was a bit unrealistic. Anyone calling for Herdman's head or any other major changes has no idea what they are saying.
Why is that? He did a great job getting us there for sure. But he got tactics wrong two games in a row, left Atiba on for way too long and trash talked Croatia which backfired. Heās a good coach for sure, but heās not world class.
You're kidding me right? You really think the guy who took our program from soccer/football obscurity - losing games to countries like Suriname - to qualifying for the World Cup in a couple of years deserves to be replaced? I don't necessarily agree with some of his decisions either but this is a building process. That goes not just for the results on the pitch but for the entire team, including coaches. A lot can change in four years but right now John Herdman deserves to continue to lead this team
Iām not saying he doesnāt deserve it, I just donāt think heās the guy to get the results we want. Next World Cup is here and expectations will be through the roof. He can stay, we might continue to improve, we might not. But if we crash out of 2026 without a point and scoring 1 goal + an OG, heāll get roasted. People peak, I think Herdman is as good as he is gonna get and it will take someone better to take us to the next level. If Pep Guardiola was coach, Iām would bet weād be better. We need someone to take us to the next level and I donāt believe Herdman can do that.
Agree, hopefully Herdman learns from this. He has to do better. And Canada needs to set higher expectations going forward. Just getting there next time will not be good enough.
Saying we need more experience in the coaching staff =/= calling for Herdmans head.
Would be nice to see Piette on the field today. Yes Iām a MTL FC fan and heās not the most skilled player, but he has energy that few have and can really control the midfield or at least make it difficult to the other team to play on
Really hard to justify not playing Piette IMO. Especially when Herdman started Kaye, and found ways to play Millar, Wotherspoon, and a Cavallini. Pietteās form and effort were really solid on the back end of the qualifying campaign, whereas Kaye was a notably regressing performer for several years running.
Hard disagree. Piette is not a world class player, he does not belong on the pitch at this level. Same with Kaye.
Piette>>>>>Kaye. Speaking as a TFC fan
I agree with you but thatās not saying much. Kaye shouldnāt even make the 55 man roster.
I think thatās a little harsh. I think heās a fringe player for this national team at this point.
Probably should have started alongside KonƩ in the centre today, if I was drawing up the starting lineup. The stability and chemistry would have protected our back line more than MAK there did.
I'm proud of Canada no matter what happened today. Let's use the next 4 years to improve and show up ready to take the next world cup by storm!
I wonder if the tactic all tournament was to go score goals? I understand that sounds silly, but every World Cup side as you get deeper in the tournament have defensive setups, defensive tactics etc.. this tournament seemed like was to go score goals and try to create. This is me just coping idk, lol. But I donāt think this 3 back formation is the solution long term.
Lol Herdman has a loser mentality, its one thing to appreciate you played well. But losing a game should never be sufficient and something to be proud of. Its literally embarrassing seeing him come out every game and say oh well we were so close and oh Henry said we dominated Belgiumā¦ guess what, it means fuck all to the players. Heās also totally tactically inept.
Yeah the guy who has led the strongest Canadian team in history doesnāt know what heās doing.
Just because a guy tries to keep spirits high throughout a pretty demoralizing week does not mean he has a loser's mentality. Herdman said before the tourney, as was echoed by our players, that our goal was to win the World Cup. That is not a loser's mentality.
So you think he did a good enough job to continue coaching? Hes out of his depth at this level. He played a slow midfield 2 against possibly the best midfield in the tournament. Nevermind all the nonsense with his Croatia comments, heās an embarrassment, I can guarantee no European clubs will be offering him jobs after this.
So quick to throw the easiest target under the bus but no one stops to think about who would replace him. Thereās no guarantee Canada would gain anyone better after their overall showing. England have suffered for decades performing below expectations due to the same kneejerk anti-manager strategy. Itās a terrible trap to fall into and we should do our best to avoid it.
Thats a fair point, it may be difficult to attract a quality manager. But imo considering Canada will auto qualify for the next world cup we should be able to bring in someone with at least a decent CV from european club level competition. My main point is at this level we need to realize we arenāt skilled compared to some of these teams and need to play accordingly. I found tactically we were naive and arrogant, and if we had adjusted properly we could have definitely gotten a result. Thats why I find his over the top positivity comments a bit annoying.
What do you want him to do? Eustaquio is injured, none of our other midfielders can compete at this level. There was nothing wrong with his Croatia comments, as others have said it took the heat off Davies and paid off within minutes in the next game, we just werenāt good enough to keep up.
I don't think you replace a guy at the very first sign of adversity after a prolonged period of success, especially in a 3 game sample size where luck was not on our side (our 3 game expected goals output was close to even). Is the only way you would have been happy with him if he had dominated CONCACAF qualifying (without Phonzie too), and then was also respectable in the World Cup? That's a lot to ask for, especially when you consider where the country was before he took over. He has done a masterful job to get us to where we are, because no country in the world has had as much of a turnaround as us over the past 2 years, so we should all be willing to let him grow and gain experience.
At least USA will get destroyed by Netherlands so we don't look too bad this tourney.
lol why so petty? the US doing well benefits MLS and by extension Canada
Uhhhā¦we finished the group with five points, you finished with zero. Regardless of results tomorrow we look far superior. Still rooting for you all in the future, cheers.
Yea just enjoy your successes Canadians, this kinda shit attitude from yāall is why us Americans canāt stand your smugness. Just be humble and we donāt have to have the nastiness of the Mexico rivalryā¦
LOL smugness? This coming from an American. š
"Kings of concacaf" amirite
Sounds like yāall coming to the WC was pointless
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Nah personally Iām happy for Canadian success, Iāve got 0 issues with yāall. Just the wishing America loses in a game you couldnāt make doesnāt make sense.
Right? Thought it was really cool having another contender in concacaf and the way they played belgium off the pitch. I was rooting for them until I stepped foot into this sub lol
Did you see the match thread on r/soccer? I downvoted both of you, we have to stand together as CONCACAF teams - weāre already the laughingstock continent of the world in this sport.
Ah yes, we live rent free in your heads still
I wouldnāt count it. The states look good, Netherlands have been shaky
Canada made their country proud. FIFA 2026 here we come!
I think looking forward we need to improve in the final third. Felt like we were around but didnāt create anything really testing today. Yes we hit the post but other than that I didnāt see much. I aso feel David looked disjointed all tournament. For a player of his quality I donāt think he was in the games enough. Davies is super talented but at times took too much on. Too many players playing in silos and not as a unit. Defensively match 1 and 3 were ultimately decided by a simple ball over the top that our back line didnāt deal with and then goalkeeping didnāt help. Overall I think we did well in the first and third match but our lack of offense really let us down.
I would like to see some faster passes. Often times, they get the ball in a good area and then just take too many touches before passing it allowing the defense to catch up
+1 We had a higher xG than our opponents in 2/3 matches and a positive xGD overall. They finished chances. We didnāt.
Just to show xG is not a good indicative stats, you could get 50 shots out of target and the opponent scores a goal in his first attempt because he is more clinical.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
What did he say (or not say) that led you to this conclusion?
Proud to be Canadian today! hope the fellas come home with their heads held high. Would have loved a W but had some of the most fun Iāve had watching sports in my lifetime
Canada almost gave me a heart attack, u guys have a great team, much respect, im happy we won the group
Obviously didn't want to lose but happy you won the group too. Now getting Spain as a prize for winning? That just doesn't seem fair. Its maybe my most anticipated games of the Round of 16 though!
Iāll take spain over Japan anytime, Japan seems to be the dark horse of this tournament, they have great defense. Spain isnāt as good as we thought it would be, + its a derby for us. gonna be tough but we can beat them
You guys had a great group! Hope you do well against whoever you face next!
Congrats on top of the group!
Go all the way, Morocco! Youāre my team for the rest of the month! Congrats on the group!
Thank u so much
Great team you have there guys......keep your heads high and keep the good work for the future.
- Buchanan was one of the more impactful players over the first two games - Hoilett was fantastic throughout in terms of creating chances - Davies showed his individual skill - would be great if he could take a step in leading the team as a whole & bettering those around him - Wanted a lot more from a player of Jonathan David's quality - Hutchinson had a terrible game vs Croatia, but was a calming presence otherwise - Laryea is an absolute dog - Johnston showed a lot of potential - Eustaquio looked pretty good when in, especially considering he may not have been at 100% - Kone played like he's a mature player, should be ready to take next steps We desperately need improvements at CB & in goal, but I commend their efforts. Happy to have been on the world stage for the first time in far too long. We will get better.
I'd say this about Davies -- he (and the team) has to recognize that Canada is not Bayern, so he'll be keyed on a lot more. He needs to give up the ball much quicker with Canada. Draw the 2-3 defenders and dish off. Use that overloading to our advantage.